to amend and reenact §22-11-3 and §22-11-8 of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to authorizing
the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection to
issue National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits;
defining terms; and correcting antiquated language.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That §22-11-3 and §22-11-8 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:

ARTICLE 11. WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ACT.

§22-11-3. Definitions.Unless the context in which used clearly requires a different
meaning, as used in this article:
(1) "Activity" or "activities" means any activity or
activities for which a permit is required by section seven of this
article;
(2) "Board" means the environmental quality board, provided in article three, chapter twenty-two-b of this code;
(3) "Chief" means the director of the division of water and
waste management of the Department of Environmental Protection;
(4) "Code" means the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended;
(5) "Department" means the Department of Environmental
Protection;
(6) "Disposal system" means a system for treating or disposing
of sewage, industrial wastes or other wastes, or the effluent
therefrom, either by surface or underground methods, and includes
sewer systems, the use of subterranean spaces, treatment works,
disposal wells and other systems;
(7) "Disposal well" means any well drilled or used for the
injection or disposal of treated or untreated sewage, industrial
wastes or other wastes into underground strata;
(8) "Effluent limitation" means any restriction established on
quantities, rates and concentrations of chemical, physical,
biological and other constituents which are discharged into the
waters of this state;
(9) "Establishment" means an industrial establishment, mill,
factory, tannery, paper or pulp mill, mine, colliery, breaker or
mineral processing operation, quarry, refinery, well and each and
every industry or plant or works in the operation or process of
which industrial wastes, sewage or other wastes are produced;
(10) "Industrial user" means those industries identified in the standard industrial classification manual, United States Bureau of
the Budget, 1967, as amended and supplemented, under the category
"division d--manufacturing" and other classes of significant waste
producers identified under regulations issued by the director or the
administrator of the United States environmental protection agency;
(11) "Industrial wastes" means any liquid, gaseous, solid or
other waste substance, or a combination thereof, resulting from or
incidental to any process of industry, manufacturing, trade or
business, or from or incidental to the development, processing or
recovery of any natural resources; and the admixture with such
industrial wastes of sewage or other wastes, as hereinafter defined,
is also "industrial waste" within the meaning of this article;
(12) "Other wastes" means garbage, refuse, decayed wood,
sawdust, shavings, bark and other wood debris and residues resulting
from secondary processing; sand, lime, cinders, ashes, offal, night
soil, silt, oil, tar, dyestuffs, acids, chemicals, heat or all other
materials and substances not sewage or industrial wastes which may
cause or might reasonably be expected to cause or to contribute to
the pollution of any of the waters of the state;
(13) "Outlet" means the terminus of a sewer system or the point
of emergence of any water-carried sewage, industrial wastes or other
wastes, or the effluent therefrom, into any of the waters of this
state, and includes a point source;
(14) "Person", "persons" or "applicant" means any industrial user, public or private corporation, institution, association, firm
or company organized or existing under the laws of this or any other
state or country; State of West Virginia; governmental agency,
including federal facilities; political subdivision; county
commission; municipal corporation; industry; sanitary district;
public service district; drainage district; soil conservation
district; watershed improvement district; partnership; trust;
estate; person or individual; group of persons or individuals acting
individually or as a group; or any legal entity whatever;
(15) "Point source" means any discernible, confined and
discrete conveyance, including, but not limited to, any pipe, ditch,
channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling
stock or vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants are
or may be discharged;
(16) "Pollutant" means industrial wastes, sewage or other
wastes as defined in this section;
(17) "Pollution" means the man-made or man-induced alteration
of the chemical, physical, biological and radiological integrity of
the waters of the state;
(18) "Publicly owned treatment works" means any treatment works
owned by the state or any political subdivision thereof, any
municipality or any other public entity, for the treatment of
pollutants;
(19) "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection or such other person to whom the secretary
has delegated authority or duties pursuant to section six or eight,
article one of this chapter;
(20) "Sewage" means water-carried human or animal wastes from
residences, buildings, industrial establishments or other places,
together with such groundwater infiltration and surface waters as
may be present;
(21) "Sewer system" means pipelines or conduits, pumping
stations, force mains and all other constructions, facilities,
devices and appliances appurtenant thereto, used for collecting or
conducting sewage, industrial wastes or other wastes to a point of
disposal or treatment;
(22) "Treatment works" means any plant, facility, means,
system, disposal field, lagoon, pumping station, constructed
drainage ditch or surface water intercepting ditch, diversion ditch
above or below the surface of the ground, settling tank or pond,
earthen pit, incinerator, area devoted to sanitary landfills or
other works not specifically mentioned herein, installed for the
purpose of treating, neutralizing, stabilizing, holding or disposing
of sewage, industrial wastes or other wastes or for the purpose of
regulating or controlling the quality and rate of flow thereof;
(23) "Water resources", "water" or "waters" means any and all
water on or beneath the surface of the ground, whether percolating,
standing, diffused or flowing, wholly or partially within this state, or bordering this state and within its jurisdiction, and
includes, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, natural
or artificial lakes, rivers, streams, creeks, branches, brooks,
ponds (except farm ponds, industrial settling basins and ponds and
water treatment facilities), impounding reservoirs, springs, wells,
watercourses and wetlands; and
(24) "Well" means any shaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored or dug
into the earth or into underground strata for the extraction or
injection or placement of any liquid or gas, or any shaft or hole
sunk or used in conjunction with such extraction or injection or
placement. The term "well" does not include any shaft or hole sunk,
drilled, bored or dug into the earth for the sole purpose of core
drilling or pumping or extracting therefrom potable, fresh or usable
water for household, domestic, industrial, agricultural or public
use.

§22-11-8. Prohibitions; permits required.

(a) The secretary may, after public notice and opportunity for
public hearing, issue a permit for the discharge or disposition of
any pollutant or combination of pollutants into waters of this state
upon condition that the discharge or disposition meets or will meet
all applicable state and federal water quality standards and
effluent limitations and all other requirements of this article and
article three, chapter twenty-two-b of this code.
(b) It is unlawful for any person, unless the person holds a permit therefor from the department, which is in full force and
effect, to:
(1) Allow sewage, industrial wastes or other wastes, or the
effluent therefrom, produced by or emanating from any point source,
to flow into the waters of this state;
(2) Make, cause or permit to be made any outlet, or
substantially enlarge or add to the load of any existing outlet, for
the discharge of sewage, industrial wastes or other wastes, or the
effluent therefrom, into the waters of this state;
(3) Acquire, construct, install, modify or operate a disposal
system or part thereof for the direct or indirect discharge or
deposit of treated or untreated sewage, industrial wastes or other
wastes, or the effluent therefrom, into the waters of this state, or
any extension to or addition to the disposal system;
(4) Increase in volume or concentration any sewage, industrial
wastes or other wastes in excess of the discharges or disposition
specified or permitted under any existing permit;
(5) Extend, modify or add to any point source, the operation of
which would cause an increase in the volume or concentration of any
sewage, industrial wastes or other wastes discharging or flowing
into the waters of the state;
(6) Construct, install, modify, open, reopen, operate or
abandon any mine, quarry or preparation plant, or dispose of any
refuse or industrial wastes or other wastes from the mine or quarry or preparation plant: Provided, That the department's permit is
only required wherever the aforementioned activities cause, may
cause or might reasonably be expected to cause a discharge into or
pollution of waters of the state, except that a permit is required
for any preparation plant: Provided, however, That unless waived in
writing by the secretary, every application for a permit to open,
reopen or operate any mine, quarry or preparation plant or to
dispose of any refuse or industrial wastes or other wastes from the
mine or quarry or preparation plant shall contain a plan for
abandonment of the facility or operation, which plan shall comply in
all respects to the requirements of this article. The plan of
abandonment is subject to modification or amendment upon application
by the permit holder to the secretary and approval of the
modification or amendment by the secretary; or
(7) Operate any disposal well for the injection or reinjection
underground of any industrial wastes, including, but not limited to,
liquids or gases, or convert any well into such a disposal well or
plug or abandon any such disposal well.
(c) Where a person has a number of outlets emerging into the
waters of this state in close proximity to one another, the outlets
may be treated as a unit for the purposes of this section, and only
one permit issued for all the outlets.